The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing plug-in connectors. Plug-in connectors are known in various embodiments and are used for electrically connecting individual components of electric/electronic devices. They consist of one-part or two-part plug and socket strips having an insulating member which separates contact elements providing a certain number of poles and arranged in a grid from one another. The insulating member receiving the contact elements can be a unitary part of a housing or a separate component. The housing provides protection against outer mechanical loading and is, in general, provided with a guide contour that allows centering while avoiding an incorrect attachment of the corresponding housing bottom or top part. The assembly of the housing top part and bottom part is achieved by a detachable quick connection which can be, for example, a plug-in connection.
For producing such plug-in connectors, it is known to produce the insulating member, respectively, the housing parts as injection-molded individual plastic parts into which individual or strip-shaped contact elements are placed. Such a method is, for example, known from European Patent application 0 753 901 A2. A disadvantage of this method is the cost-intensive and inflexible manufacture resulting, on the one hand, from the high investment capital for the manufacturing machines, and, on the other hand, from the long retooling times. For example, for each desired number of contacts/poles a suitable injection molding tool is required so that a cost-intensive number of such tools must be stocked which is even larger when taking into consideration the different types of grid arrangements. Furthermore, for each desired change of the contact number or the grid arrangement, an expensive retooling of the machining stations arranged downstream is required so that the prior art process is not suitable for a fast and easy manufacture of different plug-in connectors, but instead requires complicated and difficult manufacturing steps.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method for producing plug-in connectors of the aforementioned kind which, while avoiding the aforementioned disadvantages, allow for a simple and inexpensive as well as flexible manufacture of complex plug-in connectors.